Tuesday, February 24, 2009

I know it has been a while since my last post but here I am again with a new thought in mind. Every person in this world has asked one common question at one time or another; "What if...?"

Those moments in life when we begin to wonder if that one decision we made was the right one... "If I had said something different would it have brought on a different response? What if I had said that one kind word? What if I had smiled when I frowned instead? What if I had put that extra dollar in the offering plate that I felt led to give Sunday morning but did not? What if I turned left instead of right? What if I said 'yes' instead of 'no'?" What if.... What if.... What if.... right? We always look back at these 'what ifs' with some regret. We think had we acted on the decision set before us differently it would have brought about a different/greater result.

Sometimes these 'what if...?' questions can be looked at in a different light and we do not have to look back on our decisions with regret or wonder. "What if I had never gone to church? What if I had never heard of Christ? What if I had never accepted Jesus as my Savior?" Can't we look back on these 'what ifs...' and not regret? If we imagined where our lives would be without God and His peace that passes all understanding our 'what ifs...' we sometimes have can turn into a prayer of thanks for not making the other decision; for not turning away; for not saying 'no'.

Let me go a little deeper now and get into something kind of bigger.

Think of this... "What if Adam and Eve had never sinned? What if the world was perfect? What if we never needed that blood sacrifice? What if Jesus never had to come as the Lamb who was sent to the slaughter?" I am sure these thoughts have crossed our mind at some point in time. Here is something I find amazing I want to share with you. These 'what ifs...' I believe led an even greater purpose than we could ever realize. What if Adam and Eve had never sinned? The world would be perfect. We wouldn't need that blood sacrifice. We wouldn't need Jesus to come to Earth to die for our sins. We could just be perfect and live in our perfect little world.

Although I do not believe it was God's will for man to sin in the garden I do know He knew they would sin and He was going to use that to fulfill something greater than man would ever have expected. The day man sinned turned the whole world upside down. Everything, because of that one choice, was forever changed. We all know the story... in the end "He sent his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life."- John 3:16 Did you notice, I left out a very important part of that verse? "For God so loved the world..." I believe God's plan was for us to see what true love really is. If we lived in a world with no sin, we would need no Savior. If we lived in a perfect world, we would not know pain? We would not know hurt? We would not know of a love that surpasses any love ever known.

When Jesus Christ was dying on the cross his Father had to turn away when the sins of the world were placed upon his Son because He was Holy and could not know sin. While the Roman soldiers were beating Christ and were nailing him on the cross God looked down and saw the greater price He was paying. Jesus died to show us a love we would never have known.

I have a shirt that says "Beauty is in the death of the Beholder" I love this shirt because it has brought about many questions that have led to greater discussions. I explain like this God saw the death of his Son and in his eyes the death was beautiful. He knew there was a greater purpose, God knew the death of his one and only Son would save the souls of countless people.It was this our Heavenly Father found so beautiful. Hell was meant for Lucifer and the fallen angels, not for the people of the world.

So, what if? What if God never sent his Son? What if we never knew true love? I mean real true love...not what you hear in the movies.

Sometimes we have these 'What if...?' questions that come in our head and we just have to ask ourselves. Try to remember 'what if...' questions can be something good for us too. Don't always see them as a negative but as a good thing as well.

Romans 5:10 "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life."

God never thought twice or asked "What if...?" when He sent his Son as the final sacrifice.